


My World Would not Turn Without You

by Kjm272



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Adoption, Child Neglect, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Foster Care, Good Peter, Harley Keener & Peter Parker are Siblings, Harley comes later, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Irondad, Kid Fic, Kid Peter Parker, Light Angst, Mentioned Skip Westcott, Minor Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Not Beta Read, Out of Character, Parent Tony Stark, Peter is like 8, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, no beta we die like men, regular updates, spiderson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-06-24 10:08:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19721524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kjm272/pseuds/Kjm272
Summary: Set right after the Stark Expo, Tony decides there must be something more he could do to atone for his sins. Sometimes atonement comes in the form of a superpowered kid and fixing a potato gunSet around IM2, however does not follow cannon timeline at all! Super self indulgent Irondad and Spiderbaby fluff to heal from Endgame and Far From Home





	1. If I Could Turn Back Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning

It had been one year since the Expo. One year of constant press apologies, and several million dollars in donations to destroyed businesses, grieving families, and group homes with displaced children. One year and Tony still could not get over himself. He Prefered to take comfort in a lonely bottle of brown liquor and his "work" rather than reach out to another human being. Like many nights before, Tony sat at his desk with his head in his hands, feeling distraught over a loss of what more he could do.  
Pepper said it's not his fault, and there's not much more he can do but to "be better". Rhodey says that he can't save everyone and to get over it.  
"You can't save everyone" Tony scoffed at the comment and remembered the boy with the Iron Man mask facing off against a hammerbot. He saved him, didn't he? 

Soon Tony couldn't stop thinking about that child. Pondering about his identity and wondering if he was truly okay. It took A lot of digging and actual phone calls for him to finally find out who that kid was. Tony muttered to himself reading the child's compiled file "Peter Parker age 8 parents gone, lives with aunt and uncle... " Tony froze for a moment and felt his blood run cold as he continued "...lived with his aunt and uncle, IQ. whoa Im-pressive" Tony continued breathlessly " gene mutation? Richard Parker...spider genes... What the fuck! What kind of guy does that to his own kid... " That thought sent Tony spiraling, reflecting on his own father wondering what Howard would have done in the name of “Science”. “He's now staying at St. Thomas Lee's group home, didn't I donate money to that place?" Tony asked himself reflectively. Tony looked up at his screen resolutely and called pepper, he was paying a personal visit to the group home. 

As Tony stepped out of his Audi, that definitely cost more than the building the kids were housed in, he could feel anxiety creeping up his throat to strangle him. Taking several deep breaths he put on his best press smile and entered the building. Immediately he was absolutely swarmed with children aged 5 to at least 13 all asking him questions about Iron Man or begging to be adopted. He didn't have the heart to tell the kids that Iron Man wasn't looking for an Iron Lad to take home and he was really only here to check on one kid. After the caretakers calmed the children and stopped them from knocking Tony over, he looked at the crowd and found a certain chestnut haired boy missing from the masses. He wasn't going to ask about the child, as knowing the kids name and location would raise too many hard to explain questions he did not want to answer.

About 20 minuets into the visit Tony grew impatient as he could no longer take the woman’s polite prattling and asked "are these all of the children you have at this facility? I want an accurate count for when I send over my surprise, I’m thinking new beds and linens" 

"oh yes, we have two more but they’re both out at the moment" Tony hummed thoughtfully and followed the woman on a tour of the facility when she received a call and had to step away for a moment. In her absence Tony took to pacing the hall a bit to work off some nervous energy when he heard sniffling coming from a closet. Tony knocked on the door and opened it. On the floor of the closet nestled into a corner with the dirty mops and brooms and linens he saw a familiar brown haired boy with a book and discarded flashlight looking up at him petrified. 

"Peekaboo" Tony said playfully slightly smiling at the boy 

"H-He- Hi Mr... Your! Iron- Mr. Tony... I'm Peter!" the boy stuttered 

"Hey Pete, I'm Tony Stark. What are ya doing holed up in here" 

"Ms. Karen says that I have to stay here, I'm Uhhh.. bad... an a embarrassment... So I sleep here sometimes...im not allowed around the good children" The child looked away flushing slightly and cowering further into the corner. Upon further inspection Tony could see a worn blanket and flat pillow crumpled up in the small space with the boy additionally on one of the shelves sat an old iron man toy and the . Ire arose in Tony, even if this wasn't the child he was lightly stalking, no person should have to live like this! 

The main caretaker who was giving Tony a tour, came bounding around the corner huffing in exasperation "PETER WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THAT CLOSET GET OUT OF THERE THIS INSTANCE!" 

Peters face screwed up in confusion as he ducked out of the closet and into the bare hallway, his chin tucked firmly to his neck, eyes casted down, tense shoulders and hands picking at his cuticles and nails. "Uh-I... " 

"Not another word, turn around forehead on the wall and stand!- I'm so so sorry he bothered you  
Mr. Stark! I assure you the other boys and girls here are nothing like him!" 

"you got that right", Tony muttered. The next move he made is one he swears will haunt him forever. He turned around and continued the tour leaving the boy to stand in the hallway, then went home never turning back.

That night, all Tony could think about was that poor boy sleeping in the closet with the brooms like a sadder Harry Potter as he lay on his luxury king mattress with the finest linens money could buy. Once he had his fill of pity and regret he decided that there was work to be done.  
The time was currently 10:08pm, he could have this sorted by noon tomorrow he was sure of it. That night, Tony made 3 calls. one to the police to report the continual mistreatment and neglect of a child, then one to his lawyers he'd be damned if he wasn't granted temporary guardianship while they looked for a safe and nurturing place for him and the third to Pepper. He hung up on the fourth ring. He then rounded up all of his booze and threw it all into a cabinet and told Jarvis to only unlock it if a very specific event occurs, if he wants to drink but isn't upset. He laid in bed for about another hour before giving up and working in his lab until well in the morning when he then passed out at his bench. He was awoken at 3pm by JARVIS 

"Sir. You have an incoming call from child and youth services" 

"Send it through Jarv" 

"Tony Stark." 

"Oh, Hello Mr. Stark this is Veronica Cooper calling from Child and Youth services and I'm the one handling Peter Parkers case. I saw your very early morning petition to Foster Peter and wanted to inform you of the process for becoming a foster parent... " 

"I'll do it. I don't care, I'll do it" 

"Okay well, generally there's a background check a home visit and classes one has to take. Given your notoriety and lawyers all we need to do is conduct a home visit, the classes may be completed while young Peter resides with you. Generally we do not do this but due to the extraordinary circumstances of your resources and Peters... needs... We are making quite a few exceptions as you will be very easy to keep track of, the home visit can happen as soon as you are ready" 

"OK, how about tomorrow then, anytime" 

The next week was awful, Tony forced himself into sobriety by burying himself in his work making suit after suit sending finished products to Malibu. He had a maid take out all traces of alcohol so he wouldn't even have to see it. He designed Peters new room in the meantime as well, making sure EVERYTHING was perfect, according to what his case worker said about what he likes.  
The case was taking much longer to approve due to Tony’s infamous playboy days. He had to produce written statements and vouchers from sobriety programs as well as complete community service hours he fully intended on paying the fines for. The main objective that kept Tony going was momentarily saving the bravest kid he knew.

*****************************  
It had been a year and two months since the Expo. It was two months and he was finally sober, Peter was finally coming to stay with him and he still has not told Pepper. Tony was incredibly nervous that day, in fact he had Almost taken to drinking, but instead he created protocol after protocol to keep the kid safe inside the tower. He even made a plan for lunch! He was going to let the kid order whatever he wanted from one of his favorite take out places, even if it was one of everything on the menu!  
The case worker informed Tony that they would arrive shortly after noon so Tony and the kid could eat together, a sort of reintroduction for the two of them.  
The closer noon came the more Tony reevaluated the entire situation. He knew nothing about kids, especially traumatized genius kids! And God, did that reminded him of himself.  
Soon his thoughts were spiraling into an endless sea of what ifs, genuinely hoping he was nothing like Howard. He promised himself that He would never do to Peter what Howard did to him! Tony resolved that he would treat Peter the way he deserved to be treated by his father and use his memory of Jarvis as a role model. At the end of the day Howard will be remembered as he always wished to be, a brilliant businessman. 

The dreaded moment finally came when JARVIS said two visitors were on their way up. Tony got off his workbench wiping nervous sweat from his brow; he threw on a blazer to compliment his plain black t shirt and fitted jeans and walked off towards the living room to meet his tiny guest.


	2. Cable Car

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter finally arrives after weeks of paperwork, and Tony is naturally out of his depths with the whole thing!

Tony stood nervously waiting for his guests to arrive wondering if he had ever felt this way before. He took a deep confident breath and put on his best press smile.  
As the doors to the elevator opened, Tony first saw Ms. Cooper dressed in fancy business attire. It was strange to see a social worker all dressed up just to drop off a kid, but chalked up to a desire to impress him and look like she belonged in the building. Peter on the other hand, was a very stark contrast to her. His cloths had to have been the handmedowns of handmedowns with clear wears in the fabric of his pants and small dryer holes in his shirt, both that were too big and whose colors had been eaten away by bleach.

"Hello Mr. Stark, I came here to drop off my friend Peter, he is very excited to come stay with you for a time, isn't that right?" Peter made no verbal acknowledgement to the statement. Instead he looked up at Tony in absolute awe, he couldn’t believe that he was really inside the brand new Stark tower!

"I thought you were playing a really mean joke when you said I was gonna go live with iron man! Thank you Ms. Veronica! Oh and uhhh A-and thank YOU Mr. Stark for letting me stay with you! I promise to behave and do all of my chores, and clean up and and and " Peter stuttered in excitement 

"Whoa there, take a breath kid! No need to make promises I'm not even sure I can keep!" Tony said playfully as the caseworker eyed him fully aware of Tony’s not so distant playboy past. She hoped if only for Peter’s sake that he was fully joking.

"Well, I'll let you two get acclimated and settled in, Peter I will see you in a month but if you need anything, you call me OK? And Mr. Stark, just be better." 

That phrase struck a chord with Tony. Of course she was referring to Tony's sly comment on behavior and not his overall shortcomings in the mental health department, but it sure felt like it. Be better is what pepper had told him when he was still beside himself about the Expo. Did this count as better? Taking in an orphan Daddy Warbucks style to show him the good life, for what? God, this was a mistake! And this poor kid was just along for the ride! Tony was shaken out of his short trance when the caseworker bid her final farewell, too late to take the kid with her. After she left it was just Tony and the kid alone. 

" Well kid, I bet your hungry! I know I'm absolutely starving. What do you say about ordering out for lunch, anything you want!" Tony said trying to muster up the courage to interact with him.

"Anything? Even fries and desert?" 

"That’s what anything means, right?" 

"And this isn't a trick? because it's not my birthday yet" 

"nope, no tricks no birthday just lunch" 

Peter cautiously took the menu Tony held out for him and sheepishly asked if anything means more than one thing to which Tony responded  
"I'm rich kid, a 200 dollar meal is like ordering off the dollar menu for me" 

Tony was impressed with the kid’s resistance to order. It had taken over an hour to get him to stop asking if it was really okay to order food! Eventually he settled on chicken tenders, fries, a medium pizza and a milkshake. Tony ordered a burger, fries and mozzarella sticks for him and the kid. Tony couldn't believe that after ordering all of that food his biggest concern was if they would accept hundreds! When the food arrived, Peter ate with amazing vigor. Almost like it had been days since he had a real meal. He also ate almost three times as much as a normal 8 year old would! The case worker did mention Peter having a “special” metabolism, which he guessed means that the kid eats like two grown men. Tony sighed and finished his food while glancing at Peter making sure he didn't choke. 

Once they were both finished, Tony announced that it was time for Peter to see where he will be staying. Tony took great pride in Peters room, he bought him at least 5 science kits from the 12+ categories, a new laptop, every new game system that was out and their top recommended games (he figured the kid could always buy any game he didn't have that he wanted) , a queen sized bed with star wars sheets and many odds and ends from the movie, and of course Iron Man! Peters eyes grew to an impossibly large size as he looked around, but soon deflated and asked  
"How many other kids are staying here? Because I call dibs on that couch" Peter said pointing to the love seat situated to face the window and his T.V. 

"You're the only kid here Pete, this is all yours, if you want we can get a label maker and... " 

"You don't have to lie if I'm the only kid in here, Ms. Veronica isn't here anymore" Peter replied flatly

"Hey kid, I’m not-" 

"I mean this room is at least big enough to fit 10 kids maybe 12 if we double up the couch and the closets, that's a lot of money 12 kids... Besides no one would go out of their way to do THIS for ME, I'm just an embarrassment..." 

"Listen Peter, I swear to you this is your room and you are the only kid here, I’m not running some for profit child mill. I brought you here to live with me because I want you here" Tony quickly replied, surprising himself with the certainty and truth in the statement.

"for now... " 

Tony opened his mouth to retort but could not argue the logic of those two words as he was only Peters foster parent and just two hours ago almost wasn’t even that! God, that ‘for now’ coming out of the child’s mouth so matter-of-factly bothered him deeply.

"Listen Peter, this room, the toys. The Lego's and the games are all yours. I asked Ms. Veronica what you liked before you came and I designed this room just for you.Get settled in, I'll be in my lab. Ask JARVIS if you need anything or if you need to get me" 

"Who's JARVIS?" peter replied quizzically 

"JARVIS is my A. I. he runs this building and lots of other things that I make. JARVIS this is Peter Parker" 

"Ah, yes Master Parker, I have heard much about you. I am pleased to make your acquaintance. Make yourself at home, and notify me if you have any queries" 

"WOW an A. I. I read about those once! They said a true A. I was impossible to even code!" 

"That’s me kid, Tony "impossible" Stark" 

" Sir I believe your middle name is in fact Edward, not impossible" 

"Can it JARVIS, you're making me look bad in front of the kid" Tony admonished, which resulted in a very tiny giggle coming from his charge.

"Oh, you think that's funny kid? My own A.I disrespects me in front of an important guest?" Peter giggled again louder this time “Are you on his side?!” Tony asked in a playfully threatening tone before he descended on the child and began to tickle him. Peter let out a loud joyous laughter that managed to put a smile on Tony’s face as well. Once Tony came to his senses (why on earth would he tickle a Child? Tony Stark does not tickle children!) he straightened out his cloths and told Peter about the bathroom, shower and clothes in his drawer and that he could take one and change if he wanted. Tony then said his good byes and went to occupy himself in his workshop. 

When Tony left, Peter looked around the room in awe! He couldn't believe it was all for him! In fact, he really could not believe it was for him, so he decided it was best not to touch other people’s belongings. Peter took a seat on the dark blue couch and pulled out his library book on physics and read. Not touching a single thing. After all, it wasn’t for him anyway. Only good boys are allowed nice things and he wasn't a good boy. he was a freak, an embarrassment, an abomination.

Tony buried himself in some miscellaneous work, reflecting on his afternoon with Peter. He had no idea why he even tickled the kid! It was weird! It was like this weird instinct in that moment telling him to go for it. God, and the whole debacle with his room being his own! Tony hoped the kid would at least be able to admit to himself that he was worthy of his own room! All of these thoughts swarmed Tony’s mind as the hours slipped away. 

This kid was going to be a lot work, but he had to do it. It's his fault the kid is in foster care after all, he owed it to the kid to at least keep him until they found a nice family for him to go to. Not a second less, not a second more. Peter deserved at least that after everything he’s lost at the hands of Tony’s ego.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading the second chapter! Just a note, if you're waiting for Harley you're going to have to be patient! Right now it's about May in the fic and he's not going to be around until late in the holiday season. There's a lot building up to it and plenty of good Iron dad and Spidey son to hold you over!


	3. Because of You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1 of Tony's first night with Peter! He learns some things about the boy that he really wished was a lie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains refrences to child sexual abuse so if its particularly triggering to you, proceed with caution! Also theres also like a curse word or two in this chapter!

Tony got lost in his thoughts and work until around 5:30. Aware of the time, he thought it wise to feed the kid another meal before he went to bed.  
"JARVIS what's Pete up to right now?" 

"Master Peter is in his room reading a book, sir." 

"a book, huh?" Tony thought to himself, he didn't remember putting books in his room, so he must have brought it with him "Hey Jarv, What's the book? What book is he reading?" 

"Master Peter is reading 'Thermodynamics 101 and other 'cool' things', I believe the book belongs to a library" 

"Wow, the kid is already studying thermodynamics... I'll have to take him back to the Lab and see what he can really do!" Tony thought before telling JARVIS to ask Peter what he wanted for dinner. After the third 'whatever mister Stark wants', Tony decided on ordering Italian. Asking Peter what kind of pasta he wanted felt like pulling teeth, bu for t Tony eventually got it out of him. He ordered two spaghetti and meatballs for Peter with extra garlic bread and a chicken carbonara for himself. When the food came Tony went to get Peter who was still sitting on the couch reading his book and not touching anything. 

"Hey kid, what's up? You don't like your room? Because we can change it if you want. I mean you haven't touched or opened anything. I expected this room to be an absolute mess!" 

Peter then looked up at him with fear in his eyes "NO MISTER STARK I LOVE IT I SWEAR PLEASE DONT BE MAD AT ME, I’LL BE GOOD!" 

"Pete," Tony said as he crossed the room " I'm not mad at you at all, just concerned. This is your room, this room is for Peter Benjamin Parker. These toys, are for you, I'm not going to get upset with you and send you away. You are allowed to be in this space and touch things and enjoy things in this space, this space is yours" Tony felt like a goddamn broken record, but he knew Peter needed to hear it to get it through to his little genius brain. 

" Do you want to see why I'm such a freak?" Peter said boldly. See, in his 8 year old mind he figured that if Mr. Stark really liked him he wouldn't mind his peculiarities,but if he was faking then he could just be sent back before he got used to eating his fill and sleeping in an actual bed again. He was sure that if he slept in an actual bed again, and had to go back he wouldn't be able to bear it. He felt like he would finally be swallowed up by an ever looming darkness, and stop existing because of how sad it would make him.  
With only a nod from Mr. Stark Peter took off his worn shoes and threadbare socks and walked over to the nearest wall. He took a deep breath and started to climb up the wall with his bare hands and feet. 

Tony watched in awe as he saw the kid scale the 20 foot ceiling before he snapped back to reality and asked "What else can you Do? " very dryly. As if Peter wasn't stressing Tony out enough on the ceiling the kid suddenly let go and flipped down to the ground and walked over to the bed and motioned for Tony to sit on it. As soon as Tony was securely on the bed,Peter lifted the entire thing with one hand almost too easily.  
"I also, I'm heal really fast if I'm eating enough and I have real good eyesight and I have really good hearing it's like all my senses were normal when I was real little but then my daddy made me sick and now my senses are at a 11".  
"Well, okay. I was not expecting that... Just promise me you won't climb anything higher than this ceiling and you won't jump down until you learn to do it properly. I guess we'll need to start you in some gymnastics, I mean you're gonna climb but I want you to be safe! To hell with fast healing, no healing is fast enough to save you from a broken neck!" Tony said emphatically  
"super strength and tiny fingers will really be useful when you help me in the lab... "  
Peters eyes widened then squealed "you don't think that's weird?! That I'm an nabomanation?" 

"well sure it's a little weird but you can't help it, besides I fly around in a tin can and met a guy who can turn into a giant green monster so I say this is pretty par for the course. Our pasta is getting cold, let's go eat then we can get you a decent bath" 

Peter nodded wordlessly stunned at Tony's acceptance and sad that one day he would have to leave Tony and start all over with a family who may not like him for who he is. 

After dinner Tony took Peter back to his room and showed him his en suite bathroom, bubble bath, towels and brand new cloths. Tony explained that unless he was really attached to them, and wanted them put away in a special place that he was going to throw away the ones he was wearing.  
After Tony set up the bath and stood around for a minute or so he asked, "Do you need help buddy?"  
Peter did not respond, but also didn't move to get into the bath at all, so Tony filled the tub with bubble bath. He then explained that he would leave the room, but to hurry up and get in or else the water will get cold. Once Tony left he kept an ear open for any activity going on in the bathroom. After about 5 minuets he asked  
JARVIS what the child was doing to which he responded  
"Master Peter is standing in front of the tub sir. "  
"Seriously" Tony cursed under his breath "This kid really wants to take my comfort zone and shoot it out back like old yeller" Tony knocked on the door and waited. When it garnered no response, he entered in quietly and saw Peter standing in the same place fully clothed and frozen. Because the kid was several days overdue for a good bath, Tony concluded that it could not be skipped. Against every cell in his body that screamed boundaries and comfort level, he helped Peter undress. The shirt was fine and so were the pants, but when he took off his underwear it was as if the child’s entire body relaxed. Almost like something Peter was waiting for to happen, was finally happening. After that Peter was like a ragdoll. He allowed himself to be washed, rinsed off and dressed in his new clothes without an ounce of resistance. Tony awkwardly put him in bed, contemplating whether or not he should call some medical professional. Only when he started to leave did Peter finally speak up. 

"Mr. Stark, where are you going? Don't you want me to do you a favor too?" 

"Kid, what are you talking about?" Tony asked slightly exasperated, mostly confused and definitely uncomfortably.

"Well, at the Foster home I was at first, this older boy let me sleep in his bed, but first I'd have to get all washed up and then said I owed him a favor for letting me sleep on his bed instead of my c-closet. So, I figured after all you're giving me, you'd want a favor from me too, so we’d be even." 

Tony then crossed the room and sat down next to Peter on the bed and looked him in the eyes as seriously as he possibly could "what kind of favors did you do for this- boy?" Tony hesitated but he needed to be absolutely certain that his assumption was correct. This level of accusation could end people's entire careers. Peter wordlessly lifted his closed fist and set it against his lips.  
Tony immediately stood up regretting the decision to even pry for details and asked what the boys name who did him favors was. Peter finally feeling validated on his gut feeling that what he was doing with the older boy was wrong, and not what “good friends” do, hesitantly replied  
"S-Skip, he's an older boy... "  
Tony drew in a shallow breath and pat Peter on the shoulder bidding him goodnight before going down to his workshop taking the insurmountable rage he possessed and channeling it into his suits.  
Tony was livid, shocked and highly concerned all at once. Was Peter hurt that day he left him with his forehead against the wall? The kid is inhumanly strong, he could have fought off that bastard no matter how big he was! But, this wasn't a matter of strength. Peter was manipulated just like himself. Manipulated into doing things he knew was wrong, all because he felt that he owed someone something. Just like how he felt he owed it to Howard to keep making the best weapons and keep Stark Industries at number one.  
Snapping out of his self pity, his thoughts went back to Peter. This kid had lost 2 sets of parents in two years, was genetically mutated by his father and to top it all off was sexually abused by another kid at a home where he slept in the fucking closet!  
It was all his fault, if he had only taken Hammer seriously and killed whiplash before he could do more damage! Tony then thought about how he must have replicated the abuse and traumatized him further by giving the kid a (well overdue) bath!  
Tony stewed on it until his rational brain took over. “No, it's not my fault, the kid needed a bath and I gave him one! It's not like he’s 15, he's 8 for goodness sake! I had people wash him when I was 8…right?” He thought to himself. Tony finally concluded that he hadn't done anything wrong there, he didn’t know. But, he shouldn't have left Peter at that place alone. He should have taken him with him right then and there, screw the law! But no, he left him there. Just like he left him in his bedroom after admitting that he was sexually abused right after his aunt and uncle were murdered by those hammer bots!  
If only he was able to stop them faster, then Peter would be okay living with his aunt and uncle not sleeping in a closet and being well cared for... No! He couldn't keep circling back to the what ifs, he needed to face the facts. In his care there is an 8 year old Peter Parker, who has more trauma than any child should ever have, and yet is still able to smile. It is up to him, Tony Stark, to make sure the boy is well cared for and has everything he needs to thrive. Tony then began to do research on how to handle abused children, he was sure they would cover it in the parent classes he took, but he needed it now! He stayed up way too late researching , while also making calls to the social worker and authorities to properly report what the young boy had just admitted. Before he went off to bed, he called Pepper, and hung up on the first ring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhhh! 3 chapters and the ball is rolling! Stick around until Wednesday (or Thursday) for chapter 4! Comment down below what you would order from an Italian restaurant and if you think Tony is already screwing up this whole guardian thing!


	4. Changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Peter do some bonding together, plus a twist at the end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter has references to bedwetting so if you're uncomfortable with that, you can skim over it as the details are not plot relevant. Also Peter divulges more about his abuse while he was at the group home, so if you're super sensitive be careful.

Around 2am Tony was startled from his trance by JARVIS'   
"Sir, it seems that master Peter is in distress and in need of your assistance" 

Tony scrubbed his eyes and drew in a deep breath and went upstairs to check on his ward. “Probably nightmares” Tony mumbled to himself.  
When he entered the room he saw a bundle of bedding tossed haphazardly on the floor with discarded cloths next to them and the sound of the shower turning on. Tony wasn't surprised to see the kid had wet the bed, as he had read earlier that it is common to see in children who experienced sexual abuse. He is seriously going to have to find him someone to talk to about this. God, he was not cut out for this. 

Tony knocked softly on the door as to not startle the young boy. "Hey Pete, you okay in there?" At first. There was no response just running water. Tony asked again but louder. After Tony heard a squeek of approval, he took the wet sheets and clothes, and shoved them down his private laundry chute. He flipped the mattress and told JARVIS to order covers and laid out fresh sheets. Tony then ordered JARVIS to alert him if Peter needed any more help and decided to go to bed himself. 

Tony woke up the next morning around 8 am, after a sadly normal restless sleep and asked JARVIS if Peter was awake yet. When he heard he was still sleeping in his room, he elected to go wake him up for breakfast himself. A small part of him wanted to let the kid sleep but he decided to wake him up early with the hope that the kid would get tired around midday and take a nap. Doubting his logic he asked  
“JARVIS, kids take naps right?”  
“Children of Peter’s age typically do not, sir.”  
Deciding to take his chances he headed over to Peter’s room. When he entered the room his eyes immediately fell on the empty sheetless bed with the fresh sheets Tony had laid out resting on the night stand. He then searched the room and looked at the couch finding no trace of the little boy. "JARV, where's the Kid"   
"I believe he is inside the closet sir"   
"I was hoping it would be a few more years at least before I heard that phrase!" Tony joked as he walked over to the closet.  
Opening it carefully to not startle the poor child, he was shocked and heartbroken to see Peter sleeping on the floor in the closet in his underwear.   
Saddened and concerned, Tony sat down on the floor and gently shook Peter awake " Hey Pete, wake up, it's morning.” As Peter woke up Tony continued "If you were too hot you could tell JARVIS to turn up the AC..." 

Peter looked up at him with large brown puppy eyes filled with guilt and fear. " I thought I wasn't allowed to put on more clothes... " 

"No, who told you that?! Of course you're allowed! Sometimes I change my cloths 3 times a day for no reason!" 

"I wasn't allowed to put on more clothes before,'no use dirtying up another outfit for me to clean, you can get dressed in the morning like everyone else maybe that will teach you not to wet yourself' that's what they told me at the place I was at... So I thought it was the same here I'm sorry" 

"Pete, don't be sorry, it's not your fault. I'm sorry for not checking in on you enough last night. You never have to sleep in a closet, you can sleep on your bed" 

"I...I Thought you were mad... So I was h-hiding. You're not mad?" 

"Not at all Pete! Here," Tony said draping a plush throw over his shoulders "I'm gonna go make breakfast and you go get dressed and meet me in the kitchen okay?" 

"Okay" Peter affirmed. 

"I'm so in over my head I swear to God I'm not cut out for this, I need to find him some professional help and real parents before he gets too attached." Tony thought to himself as he made nearly a dozen eggs. Soon his thoughts were disrupted by Peter who entered the kitchen and whose footsteps echoed on the tile. Tony sighed as he immediately noticed Peter was wearing an equally as rough outfit as the one from the other day 

"Hey underoos, you know you don't have to wear that, I bought you all new clothes that don't look so… rough. " 

"Where are they?" Peter asked genuinely.

"In the closet and the drawers, they should be packed, I made sure of it" 

"I thought those were for the other kids. They're really nice clothes, the expensive ones with cartoons and logos on them" 

"Kid, I'm rich, there's no such thing as expensive clothes for me." Tony lied. He didn’t want to give the kid an aneurysm with how much he was willing to spend on clothing before he considered it expensive.

"Kids will beat me up for the nice clothes…" 

"No kids will beat you up for clothes here" 

"Not here, when I go back... " Peter replied flatly 

"Breakfast is almost finished, you're going to change out of those. You can either change before or after breakfast okay?" Peter nodded and decided to eat his breakfast first. He then changed into an "expensive" Iron Man t shirt and slim navy sweatpants 

"Nice shirt kid! Hey, I was thinking you could join me down in the lab today, put that big brain of yours to work!" 

"Really! You mean it!?! Can you show me how your arc reactor works! I read somewhere that it's like a super magnet! But it uses palladium and that's poisonous but you're still alive... " 

"whoa whoa slow down kid, if you wanna know the secret you're gonna have to calm down and follow me to my lab" Hopefully this one on one time would make up for him failing to check up on the child last night.   
Tony had never seen the child so elated working with him in the lab! The child's speech and general disposition truly belied his intelligence as Tony gave him task after task to complete, some of which would even stump his post graduate interns!   
"The kid would make a great heir to SI one day…" Tony thought to himself as he watched the child work. "No, this is temporary, but he could surely visit to work in the labs any time he likes" Tony added in his mind   
*****************************  
Peter and Tony soon fall into their own routine. With the unanimous decision from Tony and the social worker, Peter skipped the last month of school. Everyday after the closet incident it was just Peter and Tony filling their days with activities without any distractions.   
At 8am Tony wakes up Peter who he could find on great days in his bed, good days on the couch, bad days the closet and one really really bad day underneath the bed. By 9am they start eating breakfast and we're cleaned up by 10. From 10 to 1 it was either Peter going off to gymnastics or lab time, Tony played music while Peter worked in his "work space" which was free of any dangerous materials. He mostly worked on circuits, coding and occasionally some high school level lessons if Tony was particularly busy. Occasionally, Tony would also take him around to meetings in the tower, and thanks to the mandatory NDA's associated with Stark Tower no one could leak any details about Peter. Some nosey media outlets knew he was fostering a child, but not much else was known about the matter. Because of the lack of evidence and details it wasn’t front page news worthy, so it garnered little attention.  
By 1pm it was lunchtime and if Peter had practice he would generally be back. Lunch was always Peters choice, if they had a particularly junk food day Tony would force them into having the healthiest dinner they could think of. By 230 they would be finished and Peter chose what he wanted to do until dinner while Tony worked with "dangerous things" in his lab.   
Unfortunately, 8 year olds do not nap and Peter’s afternoons would be filled with (what Tony could only assume was) practicing a floor routine, falling often as Tony could hear the sound of soft thuds coming through the ceiling of his lab.   
By 6:30 pm they would eat dinner. Afterwards, they would watch a movie together in the living room before it was time for Peter to take a bath (by himself) and then have Tony tuck him in by 9:30.   
Most nights around midnight to 2 am Tony is woken up by JARVIS who would tell Tony Peter needed help. Tony would get up without complaining and help/supervise Peter in clean up process, before ultimately cleaning the bed and changing the sheets himself. The night would be topped off with Tony telling him a story about his life (edited to be child friendly of course), then tucking Peter back in for the night. 

One night around 10:30 pm Tony got a call from Peters caseworker who sounded exhausted and quite frazzled.

"Tony Stark," Tony answered in a rather tired and bored tone.

"Hi mister Stark, I know it is very late but I was reviewing your file after our last visit and... " 

"what is it? Did I do something wrong? I'll have you know I followed every asinine rule to the T to the Letter!” Tony exclaimed becoming rather defensive “I've read and scanned every book and every manual that was recommended from your people. With JARVIS here the kid can't do anything to put him in danger and at his last check up, He was up five pounds! That doesn't seem like much but the kid eats like 3 grown men and was still malnourished! I mean look-" Fuck, he was rambling. Almost as if he was worried the kid would be taken away.

" Actually Mr. Stark" Veronica continued " after looking at your file and the amount of progress Peter has made in your care, I was going to recommend you as a prime candidate for adoption." 

"I'm sorry, I can't do that. Surely you're looking for other candidates, that was the agreement correct?" Tony spat out, regaining his composure.

"Yes But… Let me be completely transparent with you Mr. Stark, many people would fall over themselves for a well behaved and brilliant boy such as Peter, However his genetic predisposition and compounded trauma makes him an incredibly hard sell. I've been trying to find him a family for over a year now and no ones biting. To put it simply Mr. Stark, no one wants a mutant child. His only options right now are for you to adopt him or go live at a special school for "exceptional" children in Westchester New York. In reality he really doesn't have any hope at having a family unless it's you." 

Tony’s heart was racing and his thoughts were going a mile a minute, contemplating all of his inadequacies and short comings and almost started to spiral out of control when the case worker brought him back with a simple 

"Mr. Stark?" to which he replied 

"F-Fine. I'll take him, he's Mine" 

"This is so great to hear, thank you! This truly is the best option for Pet-" 

"Yeah I know, I'm a saint. Listen it's getting late but I'll have my people draft up the papers and send it over to your people OK?...have a good night" Tony cursed as he hung up the phone. The damn kid made him so polite! Before he could spiral again he told JARVIS to contact the lawyers and fulfill his promise to Ms. Veronica. 

When Tony laid in bed that night his thoughts were spiraling what did he just do! What else was he supposed to do? Be like Howard and send him away to some boarding school. What would Pepper say about this? Did Peter even want to be adopted?! How presumptuous of him not to involve the child in this big decision! He was going to be such a disaster, but he was truly the only option.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaay! Chapter 4! Thank you all for the kudos and support! Please keep the comments coming they really make my day!


	5. You're Somebody Else

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pepper finly gets in touch with Tony and just continues to be her.( The author has mixed feelings about pepper but likes morgan so they suffer)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Same as previous chapter

After Tony finally fell asleep he was awoken by JARVIS who told him to go check on Peter. Tony was not surprised to see Peter had an accident. So he wordlessly and dutifully performed the motions of changing the bed. On average the accidents have been on a general decline. This was mostly because Tony had started teaching Peter about Trend statistics, and charting his success seemed to encourage and relieve the boy of some of his anxieties.  
After Peter was all clean and his bed was made, He made a very unexpected request. Looking up at Tony with his big brown puppy eyes, he asked 

"Can I sleep in your room tonight? I promise I'll be good" 

"Hey kiddo, of course you can sleep in my and remember what I said about making these promises all the time." 

Peter nodded his head in agreement and let Tony pick him up and carry him to the master bedroom. Despite being there for almost two months Peter had never seen the inside of Tony’s bedroom, It was Tony’s space. He looked around in wonder as he saw the larger room with lavish furniture a bathroom twice the size of his and a huge walk in closet that Tony had left open. 

"JARVIS, lights at 40 percent and close the closet, I think it's freaking the kid out" 

"Right away sir." Jarvis replied as he preformed the requested actions.

"Pete, make yourself comfortable ON THE BED, while I go take a quick shower and get ready for bed OK?" 

When Tony returned Peter was laying down on the bed awake. Tony laid down on the Opposite side of the bed keeping a good distance from Peter as he didn't want to unknowingly trigger and bad memories. 

"what's up kid, can't sleep?" Peter then moved towards Tony and snuggled his head against Tony’s chest.  
“I had a bad dream…”

“You did? Wanna talk about it? Peter did not reply “I have nightmares all the time, that’s why I don’t sleep so good either. How about this whenever you have a bad dream feel free to come to my room and we’ll stay awake together, Okay?” Tony asked hoping the boy would say yes, and accept the small gesture of comfort.

“I don’t want to keep you up Mr.Tony"

“Don’t worry kid, I’ll be okay" Tony replied almost too quickly.

“When do you think I’ll get taken away again?” Peter asked casually as if he were asking about the weather

Feeling the exhaustion that could only come from being awake for so long, Tony sleepily replied  
“I won’t let anyone take you away" and left it at that as he dozed off

Peter mumbled something else in response as he snuggled further into Tony and drifted to sleep inhaling the scent of expensive cologne and metal.

Without thinking Tony sleepily carded his fingers through Peter’s hair and responded, “Goodnight tesoro mio.”  
***************************  
The next day started off slow as they slept well into the late morning,and had to settle on brunch instead of a true breakfast.  
Around one, right when Tony and Peter were starting on their second Disney movie, Pepper came up to the penthouse floor. Tony forgot he told JARVIS that he didn't need to announce every time Pepper came if she was by herself. Of course that was when she would frequently check in on Tony to make sure he was alive and showering.  
Tony reflected on how different he was back then. Hes a far cry from the Tony she used to know. He showers every night and is asleep before 2am, and wakes up at 8:30 everyday! 

"Anthony Edward Stark! Why have you been blocking all of my calls!" Pepper demanded. Tony momentarily went cold being reminded that he told JARVIS to mute her calls unless it was an emergency in a drunken stupor about 3 and a half months ago. How many times has she tried to call?! Oh god, he was in so much trouble. 

"Hey Pep! Listen I totally meant to call you but-" Pepper advanced towards the couch and spotted Peters mass of curls ducking in the corner of the couch 

"Oh my god, So it's true! TONY I-" Tony quickly stood up shushing Pepper and ushering her towards the elevator 

"Pete, stay right there, JARVIS make sure Pete stays safe and does not leave the building again" 

Once Tony disappeared Peter asked JARVIS,  
"is she here to take me away?" 

When Peter didn't get a response, he ran and bombarded himself in his closet using his sticky limbs and super strength to flip his bed over to block the entrance. 

"Listen Pepper I-" 

"No Tony this, THIS is the dumbest thing you've done, who is she? Did you run a DNA test?" 

"Listen Pep, he's not mine!" 

"So that's the kid the papers say you’re 'fostering' I thought for sure that was code for illegitimate heir!” Pepper said with disbelief and a slight undertone of relief. “So when did you decide to give him back? I think everyone forgives you from the Expo, it's been over a year!" 

"I'm not... giving him back.” Tony said resolutely then followed “It started out... He's the boy I saved that day, the dumb kid who tried to face a hammer bot with a toy gauntlet, and I had to see if he was okay! And Pep, he was so skinny and they had him SLEEPING IN A FUCKING CLOSET BECAUSE HE WAS “BAD”! This kid would never hurt a fly! When I came to visit the home he was at, they fucking hid him away like some social pariah! All because his damn dad decided his kid was a science exexperiment! No one even wants him near them, nobody wants him because he's a 'mutant'. So yeah, it started out as a temporary thing but now I'm all in and if you don't like it? I'm sorry I'm not choosing. The relatives who were watching over him died in the hammer bot attack at the Expo, so this one is on me Pep, it's on me! Lady called last night and said he could stay with me or I could send him away to a school where he wouldn't have a family. I want him here. I'm not Howard. " 

"Who are you?” Pepper asked incredulously “The Tony I know would have given up in a week, but you’re honestly telling me you want to adopt a kid with a laundry list of trauma and a genetic... enhancement? Can you even take care of a kid? You know kids need to eat and go to bed before 4am!" 

"Pepper I'm a changed man, you just gotta trust me! Here, I'll show you the house charts Peter Coded for the LCD on the fridge" Tony said excitedly trying to lead Pepper out of the room. 

"Mister Stark, I believe it is erring on the late side for lunch with Master Peter" 

"Hey Pep, I'm gonna head up and check on the kid and see what's for lunch, we can argue about how I am with kids later. JARVIS where is Peter?" 

"Master Peter is currently in his closet" 

Tony cursed to himself silently “JARVIS, alert me any time Peter hides in his closet day or night. Call it ‘Trapped in the closet’ protocol”

“Will do sir.”  
Tony then looked over to Pepper and out of anger said "Goddammit Pep, you freaked the poor kid out! It's taken me weeks to get him to stop bombarding himself in the closet!”  
Tony paused and took in Peppers face before adding “He only does it when he doesn't feel safe. Come help me move the bed"  
"The bed?" Pepper questioned as she followed Tony to a door that was actually decorated instead of the normal slate grey that had playful letters that spelled out 'Peters Jedi Training Room' 

"Pete?" Tony called knocking on the door before entering "Hey Pete, listen JARVIS told me you were in the closet, wanna tell me why?” Tony asked as he entered the room "I got Pepper here, she's just going to help move the bed OK" 

"YOU PROMISED NO ONE WAS GOING TO TAKE ME AWAY! SHE WANTS ME TO LEAVE!” Peter exclaimed “and now you wont ever be my dad…”Peter said so quietly Tony would have only heard him if he too had super hearing.

"Pete that's not true, Pepper is my... Friend" Tony grunted as he and Pepper turned over the frame, then moved the mattress out of the way "UGGGHHH! Kid I swear, you're one bombardment away from a twin bed!" Peter giggled a little as Tony continued to tease "I have a bad back and you're gonna make me break it! I hope you know you're putting the mattress back on the bed, with your TEETH" 

"I bet I can put it on with my TOES" Peter responded playfully

"Oh yeah! You wanna come out here and show me? The beds out the way!" 

"No! You can't trick me!" 

"Come on Pete, it's getting late and I'm gonna starve to death if you don't pick lunch" 

"I pick nothing" 

"That means I'll starve all the way til 7 and Pepper will eat without us and be sad, she just wants to be your friend too, she didn't mean to scare you. she's just a scary lady. That's why she runs my company" 

"What does Ms. Pepper like to eat" Peter said begrudgingly  
Peter elected that they have summer salads for lunch, which was a perfect opportunity to show Pepper the healthy choice chart Peter coded.  
Every unhealthy meal had a red sad face and every healthy meal had a green happy face, if they had 2 all green days back to back they earned one all red day. The worst days were the dark red very angry faces, those were skipped meals.  
Peter enjoyed showing Pepper the other charts like his daily calorie intake, his sleeping chart, that just charts sleep and nothing else, the chore chart and how many books he's read this summer. Which had skyrocketed since Tony gave him a Tablet where he could buy all the books he wanted.  
Eating lunch with Peter acting like his normal self, and Pepper felt so domestic and... right. He never imagined stuff like this would make his heart feel so full.

After they ate lunch and cleaned up, Peter insisted Pepper pick a movie for them to watch. (Tony told Pepper to pick a Star Wars movie to really win peter over!) About halfway through Revenge of the Sith Peter was fast asleep curled up onto Tony’s lap.

"So, he wets the bed too? I didn't take you for a diaper changer" Pepper said jokingly 

"I don't change diapers, he's 8 years old not 8 months old!" Tony exclaimed quietly 

"well I mean, if he's having accidents so frequently usually people opt to have them in protective underwear instead of changing the sheets every single night" Pepper said matter of factly " I'm not trying to judge you Tony, you're really great with Peter, I mean it. I only wish I knew this Tony Stark earlier! But seriously Tony, he had to. everyone will sleep better"  
"Next week he starts with a child psychologist, the case worker and I thought it best that he fully settle here before introducing him to many new people so consider yourself a pilot. " Tony said drawing the conversation away from his son’s chronic issue.

"This Kid really means a lot to you Huh?" Pepper said as she was continually surprised by that fact.

"He's my Kid, he's m-my son."  
Peter stirred in Tony’s lap and groaned as the movie got loud 

"Soooo, now that my favorite CEO is back how about we go on an outing I'm sure Pete is going stir crazy being stuck inside with me so much" Tony supplied acting as if the kid never goes outside at all.  
"Whatever you say Mr. Stark" Pepper replied teasingly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for continuing to read these chapters! It's a little longer than I initially wanted it to be, but you guys get extra for my lateness! The next chapter will be up by sunday. Spoilers:Peter gets sick and since it's one cohesive event I'd rather wait to post and give you all a MASSIVE sic fic chapter!


	6. Rest is Best

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter is sick and Tony has to take care of him, with help from Pepper and Jarvis of course!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: There is light cursing in this chapter. Don't worry it isnt anything Panic at the Disco wouldn't say!

The next day Peter woke up very early and felt very disoriented. It was strange how a different room could feel so foreign. He groggily looked to his left and saw Tony sleeping next to him. The arc reactor illuminated the room blending in with the early light of day and waning night sky.   
Peter thought about how he had gotten to be there with Tony. Something as simple as sleeping in the same room with someone who makes you feel safe and loved. When so much death and neglect had plagued his young life, he was sure no one would ever care for him ever again, so having this almost parental relationship with Tony was more than he could have ever hoped for.  
Lost in thought, Peter moved to snuggle against Tony’s chest. He was content just listening to his heartbeat and the sou d of the arc reactor buzzing. Tony stirred in his sleep and embraced Peter. The boy sighed and thought “this is what love feels like". 

Tony woke up late into the morning to Peter snuggling into him and griping onto his shirt like a baby koala. He stretched his arms up and let out a big yawn careful to not jostle Peter too much. He looked over at Peter’s innocent face and began reviewing the outing he had planned for them.

“Hey Petey pie, wake up…” Tony mused softly. Peter groaned and buried deeper into his guardian.

“Come on Pete, if you don’t wake up soon we’ll be late for your surprise!” Peter did not stir. Tony sighed as he lovingly looked down at Peter sleeping so peacefully and wondered if it was worth it to wake him up.  
“Sir, it seems that young master may be feeling under the weather. His temperature is 101.2 degrees"  
Tony shifted to feel Peter’s face and recoiled as he felt the heat coming off of the young boy. "Hey JARV what should I do?”  
“I suggest you let young master rest, in his own room perhaps?”  
Tony scoffed at JARVIS's snark and carried Peter to his room, careful not to wake the sleeping boy. As Tony tucked him in with a thin sheet, Pepper stormed into the room fully dressed and disappointed.  
“Tony! Why are you putting Peter back to bed, we need to get a move on if we want to go anywhere today!” She scolded.

“I think we may have to postpone our outing Pep. Spider baby has a fever and doesn’t want to wake up"

“Did you give him any medicine yet?"

“Not…yet…?”

“God Tony, I’ll go make some soup and get him some Tylenol .You wake him up so he can eat!”

“Right, right…make sure to get him some apple juice he drinks it every morning. Breakfast isn’t ‘right' without it"

“Alright Tony, just wake him up"

When Pepper left Tony sat on the edge of Peter’s bed and pet his curls that were soft and cool in contrast to his warm fever ridden body.

“Come on Petey wake up now, Pepper is making some nice soup for you" Peter did not respond, so Tony gently shook his shoulder and repeated his musings. Peter stirred and grumbled some unintelligible complaint.   
“Pete, wake up or I’ll tickle you awake!” Peter shot up in his bed making his head spin. Feeling nauseous, he gagged and flopped back onto his bed. Quickly Tony dragged over Peter’s empty star wars trashcan and held it under his chin.   
“You ok there buddy?”  
“Mmm yeah I’ll be fine, let’s go get breakfast so we can go out today" Peter said weakly  
“No sir,” Tony replied adamantly “Today is a sick day, meaning you will stay in bed while Pepper and I wait on you hand and foot until you’re all better!”  
“ but m’not sick, I’m FINE" Peter argued blearily  
“Oh yeah? Capital of New Hampshire."  
“ New what?”  
“ You have a wicked fever kid, just the other day you were rambling off all of the capitals in alphabetic order, and now…well look at ya! You. Are. Sick.” Tony monologued, as Peter groaned and turned over so he could fall back asleep.  
“Nope sit up buddy, Peppers gonna give you some medicine and food THEN you can lay down all you want" Peter slowly sat up with a sad and tired look on his face and leaned his head onto Tony’s shoulder.

“Did I ever tell you the story about the time I got really really sick in college?” Tony asked. Peter looked up to Tony with curiosity. “I went through school really fast when I was a kid, so I was actually 13 when I started. My first year I had gotten so sick. I had the flu, and my mom and dad were too busy to come up and take care of me so your uncle Rhodey had to.And when I tell you he made me the BEST goddamn soup I’d ever had and-"

“Mr. Dad, when you get sick, I promise I’ll make you the best goddamn soup too" Peter replied innocently.

Tony couldn’t help but snicker at Peter’s fever laden speech. “Hey there bud, language. Can’t have Pepper thinking I’ve been teaching you new words all this time"  
“M'not a baby I know those words already…I’m not baby”  
“ Of course how could I be so naïve—hey, hey, don’t drop off on me now, ya gotta stay awake for me”  
“Im'wake" Peter mumbled sounding more feverish than before  
“JARVIS, what’s the kids temp?  
“Master Peter now has a temperature of 103.6 degrees"

“Shit! Jarvis, from now on alert me whenever Peter’s temperature is above 100.0 degrees and alert me every degree it goes up from there!"

“yes sir. Might I suggest giving young Peter a Luke warm bath to aid his fever?”  
Tony responded by jumping into action. He filled the bathtub with Luke warm water asking JARVIS to make sure the water was the right temperature. He then went to his room and found one of his many travel pillows to prop Peter’s head up; just in case he was so out of it that he couldn’t keep it up.

“Hey Pete, you’re burning up but I’m gonna give you a nice cool bath and you’ll feel much better okay?” Peter responded with a very heavy dry cough  
“ Ok, I’m gonna undress you so you gotta help me out” Tony pleaded as he began to wrestle Peter’s shirt off. Once he was finished he gingerly carried the boy to the prefilled tub. He was very careful to sit him up at the very end of the tub and used his pillow to prop up Peters small head.

“Ok, Jarvis, let me know if this lowers his fever any okay?”

“Yes, sir" JARVIS replied as Tony began washing Peter with the lukewarm water praying that he would cool down. After what seemed like a lifetime JARVIS alerted Tony that the bath was indeed helping, and it was about time he took Peter out.  
Just as gently as he put him in, Tony took him out and dried him off. Wanting to avoid too much hassle in case the child needed another bath for any reason, Tony dressed him in one of his old t-shirts that looked more like a dress on him and a pair of the padded underwear that Pepper had bought. Tony grew concerned as Peter did not put up any fuss at all when he was being dressed in the most embarrassing outfit possible.   
Just as Tony was putting a disoriented and slightly cooler Peter back in bed, Pepper came in with extra strength Tylenol, water and chicken noodle soup.   
“You forgot the apple juice" Tony sassed. Pepper looked at Tony with a level of annoyance he hadn’t seen since his playboy days. Pepper put the tray of food down on a side table in Peter’s reach and pet the boys hair gently.  
Sleepily Peter sat up, took the medicine, and ate the soup slowly. After a few bites Peter looked up to Pepper with the biggest doe eyes he could muster and said “This is the best goddamn soup I’ve ever had!”  
Pepper gave Peter a genuine smile then turned to Tony and asked   
“Did you tell him about your flu in college?” Tony opened his mouth to answer until Pepper continued “No, don’t answer that, of course you did. I’ll let you know, I got the recipe from Rhodey a while back. If you want some there’s more in the kitchen. You have to eat too or you’ll catch what Peter has."

“If he does, I’ll make him the bestest goddamn soup ever!” Peter piped up, excited at. The mention of returning the favors Tony has done for him.

“We both will, but be warned. I’ll only let this new potty mouth of yours slide because you have a fever and probably don’t know better, okay?” Peter nodded his head in agreement and continued to eat his soup gaining new respect for the red headed woman. Unable to finish the entire bowl he set it aside on his table and, sat back and resting his eyes and praying for sleep.

When Tony looked over, Peter appeared to be sleeping peacefully. Tony then began to card his fingers through Peter’s hair. 

“So, did you tell him?” Pepper asked, taking advantage of having Tony in a room that he is unlikely to flee from.

“Not yet,”

“Of course you didn’t , don’t you think it would be nice to let him know!” Pepper argued.

“Listen, I’m getting to it! I don’t know if he’d even wants this!” Tony replied feeling very flustered.

“I thought you said you didn’t have a choice?”

“I mean, I did and I didn’t…what do you expect me to say!”

“Listen Tony, you have to be more honest with yourself, you owe it to him.”

Peter struggled to stay awake for the rest of the exchange. Unfortunately his sick and tired body carried him off to sleep before he could hear Tony’s rebuttal.

“Pep, I love this kid, more than I thought I could ever love anyone in my entire life. He’s hands down the bravest kid I’ve ever met and as Iron Man, I meet a hell of a lot of kids! And Jesus, you should see this kid at work! He is a literal genius! He’s smarter that I was at that age and he’s had less than a quarter of the training I did! But, above all of that, even if he was scared of everything that moved and always backed down from a fight or I had to patiently teach him his colors and numbers, I’d do it because he has the purest heart that I’ve ever seen! After everything he’s been through, even today with 103 degree fever kid can’t stop talking about making me soup when I’m sick! That heart is worth nurturing and protecting! That is why I’m adopting him! All that potential heir bullshit, all the bravery and brains that stuff is just extra, you know?”

“I never thought I’d say you were the dad type, Tony. It fits you. You’re getting better." 

Tony gave her a weak smile as he looked down at his feverish son with adoration.

“Tony go get some food and a shower and I’ll watch Peter. Don’t worry about him, he’s sleeping isn’t much you can do anyway" Tony nodded and silently left the room.

Pepper looked down at the boy that changed Tony’s life. At first she was absolutely against Tony being unsupervised with any children at all, let alone adopt one. But, seeing Tony with Peter and experiencing first hand how much the boy trusted and adored him made her start to think about her employer a bit differently.

About an hour and a half passed before Peter groaned and slowly woke up, clearly very disoriented. He sat up and looked around before asking  
“where’s m’dad?” Pepper looked at him with a raised brow  
“Not sure who you mean" Pepper responded gently.  
“My dad! Daddy…" Peter whined tearing up from frustration and fever “where’s my daddy!” Peter cried as his sniffles turned into full on sobs.  
From across the hall Tony hear Peter’s sobs as he stepped out the shower  
“shit,” Tony cursed to himself as he pulled on a t shirt and sweats racing towards Peter’s room.   
Tony didn’t bother asking Pepper what had happened. The only important thing at the moment was calming Peter down. Tony sat down on the edge of Peter’s bed and scooped him in his lap laying his head on his shoulder   
“Shhh…its okay Pete, it’s okay…” Tony repeated rubbing the boys back in an attempt to soothe him  
“Ddy" Peter whined as he buried his face into Tony’s shoulder   
“JARV, what’s his temp"  
“It is currently 102.4 sir. It has been dropping steadily since the bath and the medicine"

“Good. You hear that Pete? Your body is working so hard you’re getting better!”

“Don leave, don leave. kay?”

“I’m sorry Pete, I’ll try not to leave again.”

Pepper smiled at the sweet scene. She felt like a stranger. An outsider looking into their special world. It saddened her that Peter did not find any comfort in her presence .  
After Peter was finally asleep again Tony asked “So what was all that?”  
“He woke up disoriented asking for his dad…guess he wasn’t as out of it as I thought.” Pepper shrugged  
“Pfft, that kid didn’t want me Pep, he was probably just confused”  
“You can’t be serious.” Pepper replied in disbelief. Tony gave an exaggerated shrug as Pepper walked out  
“I’m going to heat up more soup for him, he needs more fluids."  
“Okay, I’ll be here..”  
Tony sat with Peter again for a few hours, with Pepper popping in occasionally with soup and water.   
It was a bit past dinner time when he realized the boy had looked like he just got out of a pool!   
“Fever broke” Tony said to no one as he got up to make a nice bath for Peter.  
Tony had gotten out a fresh pair of dinosaur pajamas (as there most likely wouldn’t be too many emergency baths), new sheets to replace the wet ones and the neck pillow to prop Peter’s head up in the tub.  
“Alright Bud, you should be feeling much better now, so I need you to really help me out" Tony crooned as he shook Peter awake. Peter grumbled as he got up disgusted with how wet and gross he felt.  
“Up, up, up I already have the bath ready. Think you can get in by yourself?”  
Peter silently shook his head as he slowly got up and slugged his way to the bathroom. While Peter moved at the pace of an 80 year old woman, Tony made light work of the bed, changing them to Peter’s favorite Iron man spread.   
“You okay in there buddy?” Tony asked, back facing the entrance to the bathroom  
“Yeah" Peter replied weakly  
Tony couldn’t help but to be concerned by Peter’s weak reply  
“Okay, I’m gonna come in to check on you" Tony announced as he entered the bathroom I "Here’s your soap and washy thingy. I moved them when you were all floppy earlier." Tony said flicking Peter on the nose with his washcloth   
Peter giggled and replied with feigned weakness “I’m still sick, can you wash me! Please!”  
“sure, sure” Tony laughed as he grabbed the washcloth and lathered it in soap.   
Peter’s request was quite childish, and by all means unexpected from the small boy who harbored so much pride in his short stature. Tony could not help but to bask in the implication that Peter was finally giving in to the concept of being taken care of. Sure, it was a little weird and childish to bathe an 8 year old kid, but Peter deserved to be a child and ask for childish things. Who was he to deny the kid that? Certainly not Howard who never gave him a chance to be anything but an heir. That night in the bathroom with his sick son, Tony pledged to truly be better. Not only for Peter, but to show Howard how wrong he was about him. He was going to get little Tony the revenge he’s wanted for so long and give Peter the childhood they both deserved

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 100 KUDOS! I was beside myself when that hit! Also thank you all so so so much for your patience! This chapter is much longer than usual to reward you all for being so patinent! Please continue to show support! If you really wanna make my day leave a comment! I love interacting with you all!
> 
> ~~♡


	7. Nobody

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OOF, theres a bit of bonding and a bit of angst! Major feels ahead!

The next morning Tony woke up with approximately 40 pounds of boy leaning on his chest. Tony groaned tiredly as he tried to turn to his side and shake the young boy off.  
“Mr. Stark! Mr.Stark! Wake up! I’m all better now! Can we still go out?!”

Tony groaned again and forcefully tossed himself over to his side wrapping a strong and protective arm around Peter. “One more hour, ok bud?”  
“Ok Fine! Let me up your smushing me!” Peter giggled. Tony rolled back over with a slight smile on his face.Out of curiosity Tony looked over to his clock to see that it was 5:30 in the morning! He really should have checked the time before promising Peter he'd be awake.   
Only 20 minutes had passed before Peter started asking a litany of questions.   
“So where are we going today? What are we gonna do? Is Ms.Pepper coming with us? Did I ruin the surprise because I was sick yesterday? Did you know that when I get sick I get better real real fast because I have a fast meta-bo-lis-m" Peter stuttered out “and you know it’s really fun because I also heal real fast? and-“ 

“For Pete’s sake kid, breathe!” Tony griped groggily.

“That’s what my Uncle Ben would say all the time! For ‘Pete’s sake Pete'! He was a really funny guy!”

“He was?” Tony asked, more interested than tired. The entire time Peter was living with him, he never really talked about his aunt and uncle, so any information on the matter was precious and rare.

“Mmmhm, sometimes I miss when we would do stuff together…”

“What kind of stuff? Tony asked. As he turned around to face Peter he could see tear tracks on the young boys face accompanied by an eerily blank expression.

“Hey, it’s still super early, wanna go to one of my favorite places in the world?

Peter nodded vigorously wiping his face with his arm.

“Alright half pint, put some clothes on and meet me in the living room"   
Peter got out of the bed and raced off towards his room. Tony chuckled as he pulled on a t shirt and Jean’s thinking how on earth he had gotten so parental! He could never in a million years imagined Howard sneaking off with him to a 24 hour diner at dawn, but he supposed that’s what made doing it with Peter feel so special.

“So where are we going? we’ve been driving for like half an hour.” Peter asked securely strapped into the backseat.  
“Be patient, we’re pretty much here" Tony said, trying to disguise his excitement as he pulled into the parking lot.

“A diner? My aunt May loves diners!”

“Yeah? Well this diner is special because it’s my favorite diner” Tony said, choosing to ignore Peter’s slip in tense.

As they walked up Peter asked 

“Why is this your favorite? It looks so…normal”

“Well, when I was younger, but older than you. My parents died…and so I used to say up really really lalat.And one day I drove all around at like 3am because I was hungry and didn’t have any food. Then I found this place. It’s open all the time and the food really reminds me of how my mom used to cook… She never cooked often but when she did it tasted just like this." Tony said in a nostalgic yet sad tone, which he quickly brightened up and continued “And no one knows who I am or bothers me here!”  
“My parents are dead too! Guess that means were similar, huh?”  
“Yeah, guess we are bud" Tony said matching Peter’s complex and oddly optimistic tone.  
When they got back from their impromptu sunrise breakfast, they could hear Pepper getting ready for their day out.  
“I guess that’s our cue, Spiderbaby! Go take a shower and wash off all that syrup" Tony said in a playfully stern tone as Peter saluted him and replied   
“Yessir!” before stomping off to his room.

As Tony walked towards his room he saw Pepper walking down the hallway from the guest room she was in (they still weren’t “there yet"). Pepper looked up and gave a soft , fond smile at Tony.  
“So you went to the diner and ate without me?”  
“How'd you know?”  
“There aren’t too many places you can go with an 8 year old at 6am" Pepper retorted on an almost sarcastic tone. Tony hummed in agreement and defeat, not wanting to engage in any further arguments. He was quite sure he had just insulted her and did not want to dig himself any deeper.  
“So how’d it go? Did you tell Peter?” Pepper asked curiously  
“No, I was going to but-"  
“Tony you can’t keep lying to yourself, this is a good thing for both of you!”   
“yeah I know! but what if he doesn’t want...”  
“Tony I see you two together of course he does, stop making this about you!" Tony did not reply as he walked into his room and shut the door. Maybe Pepper was right and he was just being self-centered and selfish.  
As Peter got in the shower he stepped on his shampoo that he had knocked over last night, effectively squirting the entire bottle into the tub. Frustrated he turned off the shower to try and scoop the soap into the drain. In the absence of all the running water, he heard familiar voices in the hall. God, he wished he didn’t have super hearing! He tried his best to ignore it, until he overheard Pepper say his name.   
After hearing their entire conversation, it finally dawned on him that the conversation he heard when he was sick was real! They’re going to send him away! Frustrated and heartbroken, he stormed out of the bathroom and slammed the door so hard he heard the frame crack. He then bombarded himself in his closet wearing his dirty pajamas from the night before.   
In the closet Peter thought over everything that happened as soon as Pepper came around. He came to the conclusion that the surprise outing was really just a ploy to take him back. He really should have known better! “Stupid Peter, Stupid Peter, no one would want you for long! No one would ever love you, you make everyone die" Peter said to himself in a venomous whisper, tears streaming down his face acquiring a new meaning to feeling abandoned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank You guys for being so patient with my uploads! Question, do you all prefer one big chapter once a week or 2 shorter chapters twice a week? I'm trying to decide if I should just do once a week and not end on as many cliff hangers. Let me know what you think in the comments!
> 
> Also thank you all for the comments and support it really keeps me going with this and motivates me to update and write more!


	8. Little Wonders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angst but then the comfort comes and Tony levels up in parenting

It took 5 minutes for Tony to get worried and check on Peter, 5. In those five minutes, Peter had successfully bombarded himself in such a way that only he could get in or out if he chose to; by climbing out of a tiny opening. The opening was hidden by fallen bedsheets near the bottom of the structure, and was much too small for an adult.

Tony tried to cajole the child out from his hiding place as he had done many times before however, this time the child would not budge! Tony pleaded with Peter to come out of his hiding place, promising him extended bed times and extra deserts to no avail. Tony felt like a very bad parent for trying to swindle Peter with material goods out of his hiding place. Tony scratched his head and wondered what it could have been that made Peter decide to hole up in his closet again. Out of pure confusion Tony decided that Peter just needed “me time" and left him to his own dedevices.  
Peter did not come out until an entire day later, refusing to even eat the food Tony left outside his les mis style barricade.  
When he finally did come out, Tony learned first hand that Peter had a full adult vocabulary that he definitely did not learn from Tony. Tony let this slide for the first day or two chalking it up to Peter finally testing boundaries.  
However, the strange behavior persisted and escalated. He began from locking himself in his room and barricading the door in conjunction with using every single cuss word combo known to man (Tony had to give the kid credit though, he strung together words he couldn’t even imagine!). He began talking back, using cutting words and criticisms that would have made a lesser Tony surely begin drinking again. Worst of all, he started eating less and being outright combative at dinner time aiming to get sent to bed extremely early.  
Tony tried reinforcing the good behaviors, ignoring the bad behaviors, age appropriate punishments, time outs, taking things away and yet this new behavior still persisted for well over two weeks! He was all out of ideas and even contacted the social worker in a desperate plea of help. She assured him that he was doing everything correctly and that he just needed to wait it out. In her words, sometimes kids like Peter lash out when they finally feel comfortable as if they’re making up for all the time that they weren’t able to.

During Tony’s two weeks of hell, he continued to take the parenting classes for extra help with Peter (even though he didn’t need to), and conferenced with lawyers on Pete’s adoption, because no amount of bad behavior could make Tony love that kid any less…Even if the kid made Tony yearn for a stiff midnight drink.

All of the behavior and frustration finally came to a head one day when Peter decided to sneak into Tony’s lab and mess with the new proto type for repulsors on the iron man suit (which he knew he was absolutely not supposed to touch!). Thankfully JARVIS immediately notified Tony of his adoptive son’s exploits. Tony raced down to his lab just in time to see Peter pick up a screwdriver and jam it into the wiring of the repulsor. Quicker than he had ever moved before in his life he pushed Peter behind him and threw the repulsor farthest away from them, towards Dum-e and U. Thankfully nothing happened. However, if Peter had stabbed it correctly, the entire thing could have exploded and seriously harmed the boy.

“What were you thinking?!” Tony exploded raising his hand“You could have gotten seriously fucking hurt!” Tony looked at Peter doing his best deer in headlights impression before whimpering and crawling up the walls, away from the lab and into his room.

Tony kicked the fallen screwdriver across the room before letting out a string of curse words and frustrations he had never used before (courtesy of Peter’s ‘teen phase'). There had to be a reason why the sweet boy he used to know had suddenly turned into such a dangerously disobedient one. He decided he better not let too much time pass before talking to him and stormed his way upstairs.

To his surprise the door was unlocked and unblocked; the closet was not barricaded, and the bathroom door was open. In the middle of the pristine floor sat his spiderbaby with his knees pulled up to his chest sobbing his eyes out. He observed the scene a little further to see his iron man backpack filled to the brim and the back of his pants were wet. Sooner than he expected he was filled with guilt. He had scared the poor kid so much he ran to his room and wet himself.  
All the rage he previously harbored towards the left him as he carefully knelt beside the boy and comforted him by gently rubbing his back.  
“Its okay kid, it’s ok. I’m not mad at you. I just…you could have gotten really really hurt, and I was so scared for you” Tony said exasperated hugging the child.   
Tony tightened his embrace and chanted “I’m right here, I’m right here" in recognition that the child was driving himself into a panic attack. After Peter had calmed down a little bit  
“Listen tesoro mio, listen to my voice, you gotta breath I can’t help you if you don’t listen. Listen to my breathing, In 5 out 10. In 5 out 10” Tony repeated exaggerating his breathing until Peter calmed down completely.  
“Good boy, good boy” Tony repeated Peter squirmed as Tony reassured the boy he was not mad, just worried. Peter remained curled in on himself taking no initiative to move.  
“Listen, let’s get you a bath okay?” Peter sniffed and got up by himself, walked into the bathroom and shut the door before Tony could go after him. Sensing the kid didn’t want anything to do with him he did not chase after the child. He stood nearby to make sure the kid was okay. After hearing the water turn on, he left the room he made a note to JARVIS get the carpet in he kids room steam cleaned.  
After Peter got out the shower thet engaged in an eerily silent dinner in which Peter was scarily well behaved. Tony suggested watching a movie, which Peter usually loved to do but instead was met with an icy glare. The boy rather coldly turned back to his room.  
Tony sat in the living room contemplating what he had done wrong with Peter. He started to blame himself for yelling at his son and raising his fist at him, however something in his mind finally protested against it. Feeling fed up with his self pity and this strange new behavior Peter was showing, he followed him back to his room. When he entered Peter was standing in the middle of his room not doing anything in particular. Just standing there almost in fear.  
“What’s up with you kid? You don’t want to eat, you’re breaking rules I know you know, refusing to do activities I know you like and, and you even stopped charting!” He looked at Peter, who was maintaining a brave despite holding back tears.  
“WHY WON’T YOU JUST HATE ME! I WANTED YOU TO HATE ME!” Peter screamed full of tears.

“Cucciolo, why would I hate you?”

“Because I was bad! And if I was bad enough then you’d hate me and it wouldn’t hurt so much when you send me away!” Peter sobbed “You don’t send people you love away! I wanted you to hate me and be mean so I could hate you too!"  
Tony felt daggers stab into his heart. This sweet boy, his sweet boy was acting out to protect himself with the only defense he had from being completely heartbroken. Deciding that leaving Peter to have his space was not the best thing to do, crossed the room and embraced him in a hug.

“No matter how bad you are I could never hate you, you are tesoro mio, my treasure and people never let their treasures go.” At this point Peter broke out in violent sobs “I will never let anyone take you away, ever.” Tony said protectively doubting that the young boy heard it over his sobs. After about an hour the child’s tears died down as the toll of the emotional outburst was taken he felt a very fragile little boy melt into him with all of his weight. Thinking nothing of it he gave the boy a kiss on the forehead and put him to bed.  
It took about a week before the “new" Peter was gone, and the old Peter was back.  
During that time, Peter was very careful to follow all the rules old and new that Tony set out. One particular night Peter even rinsed off the dishes for the dishwasher! As a reward Tony let Peter stay up a little longer and they watched a movie together.  
Later on, as Tony settled the boy into bed, Peter confessed.  
"I think you're my favorite dad I've had." 

"Oh yeah?" Tony’s heart fluttered with an emotion he couldn't label 

"Mmhm” Peter responded sleepily. “You give me lots to eat and hard projects and toys and you're really nice even when I’m being an asshole"   
"Language. What about your Uncle Ben?" Tony cursed himself for bringing up that man, who knows how Peter would react to that, he was already fragile and emotionally exhausted from the weeks leading up to this moment! 

"UNCLE Ben is just an Uncle, you're a dad" 

"oh yeah? How so?" Tony asked out of pure curiosity.

"I dunno you just ARE" 

"I'm A Dad huh?" 

"Yup, you're a total dad" 

"What if I told you I wanted to be YOUR Dad" 

"W-what?" 

"I said I want to be your dad if you want me to be, Ms. Veronica called me a bit ago and said if we wanted she could make me your dad" 

"Really! For real my dad? And you can't give me Back!" 

"Yup totally un-returnable, you'd be stuck with me FOOOR EVERR" Tony enunciated making Peter chuckle with delight 

"You promise you're not lying?" Peter said sounding suspicious.

"I promise on my life I'm not lying" Tony said in a completely honest tone.

"Okay then, I'm strong enough to kill you" Peter said matter of factly. Tony thanked the heavens that he wasn't lying or else he would legitimately feel threatened, especially with all he went through during Peter’s “bad boy" phase.

" Does this mean that I can call you Dad?" Peter asked innocently 

"Of course Cuccinno, go for it" 

"OK, goodnight dad" 

"night, Tesoro mio" Tony rubbed slow circles on Peters back while humming a lullaby he thought was long forgotten. Tony wasn't sure who fell asleep first, but when he woke up he could feel his stiff neck and aching back, but could care less, because moving would mean waking up his Spider baby, his son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the support! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think and what your excited for to happen next!


	9. The Duel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhodey makes a visit to the Stark hushed while Pepper is away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usual warning, very light "level one" cursing . Hit up the bottom notes as well to see why I haven't posted a new chapter in 3000 years

“Tony? Tones, where are you at man” Rhodey called, looking around the slightly disheveled penthouse. His patience ran a thin as he called for his best friend, before he remembered that he could just ask JARVIS to locate Tony.

“Hey JARVIS, where’s Tony I thought he'd still be working?”

“Mister Stark is still sleeping. Do you want me to wake him up for you?” JARVIS replied, with what Rhodey would swear was a warm fond tone.

“Yeah, we to talk" Rhodey replied as he walked around the penthouse observing very peculiar objects such as errant Lego pieces, half full juice boxes and some high school text books. This set up was a far cry from the empty bottles and pieces of machinery that he would often find strewn about. Rhodey ran through different scenarios in his head as to why it looked like a child lived there. Most of them leading to Tony having an illegitimate teenaged heir that he found out about after the publicity stunts that came with the EXPO.  
“What the hell is this” Rhodey whispered to himself, before he heard a groggy voice call out his name.

“Rhodes, what the hell are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in DC or out as the metal American?” Tony asked with a sleepy bite to his voice.

“It’s iron patriot, and no. I have two days off and I am spending them checking up on my best friend to see how he’s doing, because I haven’t heard from him in almost 3 months!” Rhodey sassed back.Tony’s face suddenly showed a slight look of panic mixed with realization. 

“I can explain Honey bear, I’ve been real tied up over here" Tony explained almost sounding panicked.

“Yeah I see, you got yourself some teenage honey to look after?” Rhodey chided, almost hoping that Tony was dating some high school senior, rather than actually being in charge of the mental and physical growth of a child.

“Teenage…what?” Tony questioned

“Don’t play dumb Tony! Legos, textbooks and juice boxes?! I knew you’d go pretty low sometimes, but this? This is a whole new low Tones. I don’t know if I can support you in this" Rhodey pushed, still in his heart of hearts wishing it to be true.

“No,no! Even in my playboy days I’ve had limits Rhodes, this is not at all what it looks like!” Tony exclaimed as he searched his brain for a coherent explaination.

Almost perfectly on tim,e a sleepy Peter stepped out of Tony’s room adorned with Iron Man action figure and pajamas to match the look. With his messy hair, small frame and juvenile pajamas, it would be fair to assume the child was only about 6 or 7.

“Dad…whose this guy? He’s being too loud" Peter said grumpily, exactly how his father had addressed Rhodey not five minutes ago.

“Tony, who the hell is this?” Rhodey exclaimed not expecting such a tiny human.

“You’re gonna fund my college with that mouth! 5 dollars in The swear jar! I don’t care if you’re a guest, rules are rules!”

“Now Pete, just because you’re in debt from your ‘rebellious’ phase doesn’t mean you can go charging insane rates. He said a level one curse.”

“It’s global inflation!” Peter exclaimed.

“It’s a DOLLAR" Tony playfully shouted back to Peter . “It’s a dollar in the swear jar Rhodes, house rules.”

“Tony stop playing games what’s going on here? After the Expo, the media and CYS are gonna have your ass!” Rhodey said with a very serious tone.

“None of your business! Go home!” Peter said

Tony chuckled at Peters rudeness and replied “This is Peter, he’s-"

“Tony’s my Dad and I’m not going anywhere" Peter said rather pointedly glaring at the strange man in his living room.

“You've gotten a lot more bold huh,” Tony said fondly patting Peter on the head.

The boy smiled sweetly before proclaiming “I’m going to get dressed" shooting one last glare to Rhodey and turning to leave.

“I would say I’m sorry, say I'm not. Kid gets grumpy when he’s woken up so suddenly” Tony shrugged and walked to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee.

“Is that what you’re hiding? You’re dirty past coming back to haunt you?”

“He’s not mine, I’m adopting him" Tony said pouring his liquid gold into a mug.

“He got an older brother or something? Because, none of this explains the books"

“Oh, those are Pete’s too, he’s been interested in bio and blew through the kids stuff in like two days” Tony said with a hint of pride in his voice.

“So you adopted him because he’s a genius? Are you grooming him to be your heir? That’s low, even for you Tones” Rhodey said with legitimate concern for the child coating his voice.

“No! I mean, it’s complicated. The kid could go off and be a photographer for all I care! But if he wants the company it’s all his, he’d be an excellent successor" Tony replied looking at Rhodeys confused face “Alright Honey bear, take a seat and I’ll start from the beginning”

By time they were finished Peter had walked out into the living room glaring at Rhodey.

“You’re still here, AND there’s no breakfast!”

“Alright squirt, settle down. This is Lt. Col. James Rhodes, he is my very best friend, practically my brother, and he came here to visit me"

“Hi Peter, I’m sorry I scared you, but your dad hadn’t called or texted me since before you were here, so I got worried and had to come check up on him" Rhodey said softly.

“Hi I’m Peter, nice to meet you. Make yourself at home" Peter grumbled, holding out his hand towards Rhodey

Tony laughed at Peter’s politeness “I definitely did NOT teach him that!” Before Rhodey could respond Peter climbed into Tony’s lap looked up at him and asked 

“Are we gonna starve because Mr.Rhodes is here?”  
Tony rolled his eyes “I think what Peter is trying to say is ‘Mr.Rhodes did you eat breakfast? And would you like to get some with us? If I don’t eat every two hours I get super grumpy and turn into a big whiney monster who cries and cries and cries” Tony rambled playfully teasing his son

“I’m gonna fart of you if you don’t stop" Peter said threateningly 

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry I’ll stop! Biological warfare is a crime”

“So is your baby beard, and yet no one has been arrested"

“It’s a goatee, and its classy"  
Rhodey laughed enjoying the loving interaction between the two.

“You’re really raising another you, huh Tones?! I mean if I truly did not know any better I’d say he was your clone"

“Like clone wars?” Peter inquired

“Yeah! Imagine clone wars but thousands of mini Tony’s terrorizing the world with ego and hubris"

“You know Star wars!” Peter exclaimed

“Of course I do, it’s a classic!” Rhodey retorted smartly. If Peter’s eyes could have gotten any bigger they would have.

“The kid never shuts up about Star Wars, so I think he’s just excited to have another person know what a Star War is!” Tony explained as Peter grunted at Tony purposefully butchering the name.

“Whose your favorite Jedi?! Mine is Obi Wan, but I really also like Yoda because he talks funny, do you think the new one was good? Little-“

“Okay, settle down Pete, let’s go figure out breakfast then you and Rhodey can talk about Star Wars all you want" Tony coaxed.

After an impromptu ordered in “family” breakfast, Tony was worried that Rhodey was becoming Peter’s best friend instead of his! Tony was thankful for Rhodey’s knowledge of Star Wars as it had entirely mended their very rough start.  
Taking advantage of the free babysitting, Tony left his best friend and son upstairs while he went into his lab to work.

Around noon Pepper video called.  
“How are my two boys doing? Tony, where’s Peter?”

“He’s upstairs with Rhodey at the moment. They’re playing Star Wars or something. And before you say it, I’m just getting some free babysitting is all. I’m STILL fixing the repulsor Peter almost exploded himself with!”

“Did you tell him yet?” Pepper asked anxiously

“Yeah, I told him last night. Turns out his little rebellious phase was because he thought he was getting taken back" Tony shrugged.

“I told you-"

“I know, I know it’s all water under the bridge now! Here, you wanna talk to the kid?” Tony called Peter down to his workshop to say hi to his (pseudo?) mother.

While they were talking Tony couldn’t help but notice how wonderfully banal this all was. Peter rambling on about his day, Pepper lightly scolding him on his childish tendencies for danger, and him the loving father working in his lab hanging onto every moment.  
The sweet was scene soon interrupted by Pepper who announced,

“So Peter, your birthday is in a few weeks, do you know what you want to do for it?” Pepper asked sounding as if she had as few ideas of her own.  
Birthday in a few weeks! That means it’s almost August, which means school is around the corner too! Tony knew his late nights would now be consumed with finding perfect school for Peter. Tony shook himself from his thoughts so he could listen to what Peter wanted for his birthday.

“No, that’s okay. You guys have done enough this year. I don’t need a Birthday.” 

“Pete, Birthdays are for what you want not what you need. We can do whatever you want"

“No, thank you.” Peter said politely afraid he would anger his new guardians.

“Okay, how about this" Pepper intervened “What if for your birthday we took you on that surprise outing we had planned a while ago? You can even invite some of your friends!” pepper said excitedly 

“Oh, ummm…” Peter fidgeted “I only got one"

“Well then you can invite him!” Tony said backing up Pepper

“Okay…what about Uncle Rhodey? Can he come!” Peter asked excitedly 

“Peter, he’s a very busy man…” Pepper said gently not wanting to disappoint him.

“I know Ms. Pepper, he said he hasn’t even seen Daddy in MONTHS"

“I’m Daddy now?” Tony thought to himself while he overheard Pepper explaining the importance of Rhodeys job to Peter so he wouldn’t get his hopes up

“Hey Pete, why don’t you go upstairs and ask Rhodey yourself while Pepper and I talk a bit ok?”

“OK!” Peter shouted off excitedly, racing to go invite his new ‘best friend’ to his birthday surprise

“So…it’s just us now huh? All alone…sound proof room…no kids…” Tony said in a sultry tone of voice.

“You’re disgusting! you know that, right? Listen, I have CEO work to do. Why don’t you go hang out with Rhodey and Peter. Maybe their chivalry will rub off on you"

“Okay, okay" Tony sighed as they said their goodbyes  
............................................................................................

“Alright, where’s my little spider boy?” Tony said playfully as he emerged from the elevator.

“We're playing hide and seek and I can’t find him!” Rhodey exclaimed

“ You lost my precious boy? Maybe it’s you who shouldn’t be in charge of children" Tony playfully scolded.

“I checked everywhere Tones, the kid disappeared!”

“Did you check the ceilings?”

“The ceilings?” Rhodey replied, nearly losing his patience with his best friend.1

“ Yeah, he can climb walls" Tony said dismissively. Seemingly out of nowhere Peter jumped down and landed on Tony’s back

“I can also lift like a thousand pounds and I have super hearing and super vision! AND, AND, AND…that’s it.”

“Hey kid! You’re gonna throw your old mans back out! You’re lucky you’re so light" 

“Sorry Daddy…”

“No you’re not “ Peter giggled and gave Tony a kiss on the cheek. He really did not deserve such a sweet kid. 

“Come on Tesoro mio, it’s lunch time. What are we having?”

“Uncle Rhodey gets to choose!” Peter exclaimed

“Kid, you’re gonna defer your lunch choice to Rhodey?”

“Yup" Peter replied popping the P. “He’s like my best friend now. AND he said if he can he’ll come to my party!”

“Alright, alright. Rhodey, what do you want for lunch?”

“How about we order out! I’m thinking chicken fingers and fries?”

Peter nodded excitedly while Tony chuckled as he instructed JARVIS on what to buy.  
Rhodey left after lunch explaining to Peter that if he wanted to come to his party he would have to work even harder than usual so he can earn. The day off.  
Peter bid him goodbye with much more enthusiasm than when he first visited, and demanded his new best friend to video call him every week even if it’s for 3 nano seconds 

By bedtime, Peter had worn himself out recanting all of the activities he did with his uncle Rhodey (even though Tony was there for most of it) and expressed his Hope’s of him coming to his birthday party. That night Tony was set on planning the party and immediately Looking for a better school to enroll Peter in.

In the weeks leading up to Peter’s birthday, the boy had already had a solid plan for what the after-outing party would look like including a large Lego Star Wars cake as it combined two of his favorite things.  
Meanwhile Tony had found and toured 6 schools for Peter, and was stuck between two. One was a very prestigious and renown private school and the other was also a very good and renown school, but it was public and something about public schools rubbed tony the wrong way. Nothing free can be THAT good, can it?

Three days before Peter’s big birthday bash Tony gave him the early birthday gift of choosing.

“I wanna go to Midtown! That’s where Ned goes now!”

“Ned? Whose he?”

“Oh he was my friend from before…” The expo went unsaid but Tony’s conscience got the message loud and clear. He had really fucked this kids' life up.  
“Is that the boy you’ve been worried about inviting?” Peter shook his head slowly, slightly embarrassed that Tony called him out.

“Why don’t you want him to come to your party?” Peter shrugged then replied

“Its been so long I don’t think he wants to be my friend anymore" Peter replied sadly

“Well that’s stupid" Tony said rather insensitively. “if anything I bet he wants to see you twice as bad!” Peter shrugged and looked away sadly. “Listen tesoro, I bet your friend still likes you despite the time you spent apart. You’ll see.”

Peter looked up at Tony with so much hope and trust in his eyes and said “If you think so, then I guess it’s okay that he comes to my Party. His name is Ned Leeds, but only aunt may had his number"

“That’s okay Pete, JARVIS will find him!”

Peter smiled brightly and thought about how much cooler his birthday would be with his friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for 3,000 hits and all the support!
> 
> Sorry this is so so late but I actually went down to virginia and got a concussion! I'm only just now getting better enough to post! Im mostly better, but lights really bother me still.This was a long time coming so I hope you liked it!
> 
> Leave comments and make my week! Also if you have any suggestions for the story at all, also Harley is coming pretty soon, I'd say in 2 chapters so stay excited for that!


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